


True Genius

by EideticPrettyBoySpence



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:08:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EideticPrettyBoySpence/pseuds/EideticPrettyBoySpence
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	True Genius

One day we go to work and Strauss tells us not to get comfortable. She had booked Spencer and Emily to speak at a conference and forgotten to tell my boyfriend. Luckily he could think and write really fast so he was done in time for his speech. I went with him for moral support, and because I loved listening to him talk about our job. He was so passionate about everything we do and it really showed. Before Spencer spoke, Patricia Cornwell, the American crime author, spoke for a while before he did.

"In the end, I just write about violent crime. The real heroes are the people here beside me. Now give a warm welcome to our next speaker, Dr. Spencer Reid of the BAU."

"Thank you. Thanks. Patricia Cornwell, ladies and gentlemen. Ms. Cornwell will be signing books at the end of the session," he taps on the microphone a few times and it causes feedback. "Sorry, um... hi. I am here today to talk to you about paraphilias and their relation to violent crime. Does anyone know what dendrophilia is?" Spencer pauses for a moment before continuing. "Yes, a fetish for trees."

After he finishes speaking Patricia was signing copies of her new book. After I got one I noticed Spencer leave the hall and I follow him. I take his hand as we walk out of the hall but someone calls his name before we can leave. We turn and see a young man in a hoodie.

"Dr. Reid? Hey, you were fantastic up there."

"Thank you."

"Yeah. I love the names of those paraphilias. I have a new list to memorize."

"You like memorizing lists?"

"I'm weird that way."

"That's not weird at all. I do it all the time. You know, we don't usually get people your age here. You're in school, I assume?"

"Yeah, I'm a senior at Michigan."

"You know what? You might like the FBI's internship program. Unfortunately, we're already past the deadline, but if you write me a letter, I might be able to pull some strings," Spencer pulls one of his cards out of the inside pocket of his jacket.

"Uh... thanks. But I don't think my board of directors would allow it. I have a company. Have you heard of Nanovex?"

"Nanovex, as in the company Landis Pharmaceuticals is investing $100 million dollars in, Nanovex?"

"It's not a done deal yet. Uh, but, hey, you were awesome up there. You saved me from a company party downstairs that was a total snoozefest. Keep up the good work."

"You too," Spencer says as he walks away.

"Who was that?" Emily asks as she walks out of the hall.

"That was the founder of Nanovex."

"I've never heard of it."

"They make magnetically responsive nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery to tumor cells."

"I've still never heard of it."

"You will. It's gonna change the world."

We get a text from Hotch to meet the team in San Francisco, and decide to drive there instead of flying commercial. On the way Penelope sends the case file to my laptop and I look over the case. After a few minutes I gasp softly and go back to make sure I saw what I thought I just saw. The Zodiac killer, back after forty-three years? It takes a lot of skill to not get caught for that long. We don't bother going to the precinct first, we just head straight for the crime scene. Spencer walks quickly over Hotch, ducking under the crime scene tape.

"Have any letters or cyphers been received?" he asks.

"Agent Lin, this is Dr. Reid, Agents Johnson and Prentiss."

"How was the conference?" Agent Lin asks.

"Enlightening."

"Has the unsub made any contact?" Emily asks.

"The 'Chronicle's' website manager received two phone calls this morning. There was just heavy breathing on the other end. Like the phone calls Zodiac used to make."

"Can I get a physical copy of the online version of today's paper?" Spencer asks.

"You want a printout of the online version?"

"Yeah. With all the comments printed out as well, if possible, thanks."

"He works better with physical copies," I say as Agent Lin looks at me.

"It's not the real Zodiac," Spencer says after looking for one moment.

"How can you be so sure?" Agent Lin asks.

"I just know it. Sometimes I can't really explain it."

After we were done at the crime scene, we went to the FBI building. There was someone having a press conference, claiming that his cousin was the Zodiac all along. Spencer climbed the steps and interrupted after listening to the man speak for a while.

"The dates match. When Zodiac stopped killing, my cousin was put in a mental hospital in Mexico. He was released two months ago."

"Do you have anything more specific?" a female reporter asks.

"He was working on a production of 'The Mikado' in '68. The Zodiac talked about 'The Mikado' in a letter."

"Excuse me. I'm Dr. Reid with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Was your cousin by chance a fan of Wagner? Because a CD of the 'Tragic Overture' was sent to the police this morning," Spencer lied to the man smoothly.

"He loved Wagner, especially the 'Tragic Overture." It's him."

"Oh, yeah. Well, for the record, a CD was not sent to the police this morning, and the 'Tragic Overture' was written by Brahms, not Wagner, so luckily, I guess it's not your cousin. The FBI would greatly appreciate it if people would stop making false claims to get their fifteen minutes of fame. Thank you. Thank you very much."

"Well this is quite the surprise development we just witness outside the San Francisco FBI building. We'll have more for you later. Reporting live for Action News, back to you in the studio."

By the time we get inside the station, Agent Lin has the paper and comments printed out. I sit down and watch him work since Hotch hasn't given me anything else to do yet. After a while our boss comes over to Spencer, and he looks up for one second.

"How's it going?"

"Computers slow me down, so I prefer paper, but I wasn't expecting all these comments. Where do people find the time?" Spencer circles one of the comments in red ink. "I think I just found a cipher from the unsub. The symbols buried in the spam are the same ones the Zodiac used in his first message back in 1969."

"What does it say?"

"Killing is the most fun you can have 98 minutes below the horizon in Magic City with President Garfield. Happy Hunting."

"The Oracle is in. How may I assist?" Garcia says as she picks up Hotch's call.

"Garcia, to what specific location does Magic City refer?"

"Birmingham, Alabama," I answer for her without looking it up.

"98 minutes below the horizon," Spencer says. "Garcia, what time is sunset there, tonight?"

"6:22."

"98 minutes there would be eight P.M. What's dedicated to President Garfield in San Francisco?"

"President Garfield... there's a statue of him in Golden Gate Park."

We put on our bulletproof vests and drive to Golden Gate Park. We hide ourselves in staggered locations around the park, with Spencer, a detective and I hidden behind a tree. I slip my hand into his as we wait to see if the unsub will show up like the code says he will. After a moment or two a detective's voice comes over the radio with a report. I've lost track of how long we've stood here waiting for the unsub.

"No one at the south entrance yet."

"We've got a vehicle. It's a lone driver. Move in," Hotch's voice comes a moment later. "FBI. Show me your hands."

"I'm just the messenger. I'm supposed to deliver a letter," a man in a black baseball cap and hoodie says.

"It's for Reid," I say as I pick it up.

"You're not as smart as you think you are," he reads after he takes it from me.

"Who sent it?" I ask the man.

"I don't know. I just deliver it to the address when I'm supposed to."

"If the unsub's not here, where is he?" JJ asks.

The next morning we return to the park to investigate a crime scene. Spencer, Emily and I are on the outside of the crime scene tape while Hotch, Rossi, Derek and JJ are inside with Agent Lin. Spencer slings an arm over my shoulders as if its the most natural thing in the world and JJ not so sneakily takes a picture of us. She texts it to me, then slips her phone in her pocket and returns to business as usual.

"It's a high vantage point. The victims chose it for the view. The unsub so he could see if anyone was coming."

Spencer's phone rings and he looks at it a moment before picking up. I can faintly hear Garcia's voice on the other side.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, boo, I tracked the ISP of the user who entered the spam comment to an internet cafe, but he used a prepaid credit card so I don't have an I.D.," my best friend says quickly.

"All right, thanks, Garcia. He used the same code that was broken years ago in a riddle cracked in seconds. He knew we'd solve it. It was a decoy."

"No, it's a taunt," Hotch disagrees. "He wants to prove that he's smarter than everyone."

"And we fell for it. Well, if he's trying to compete with me, that means he's most likely within five years of my age. The question is why."

"But the message might not have been meant for you, Reid."

"A letter was hand-delivered to me last night."

"The comment to the paper was written at 9:03 A.M.," Emily says. "We weren't even in the city yet, so how could the unsub know you'd be involved in the case?"

"You did give your name to the press later that day," JJ adds. "And you said yourself he knew we'd be in the park."

"If he's doing his best to emulate the Zodiac, killing in such quick succession would be a mistake."

"The shortest time span for a Zodiac was two weeks?"

"Maybe the unsub didn't have a choice. Maybe he's experiencing a time pressure that he has no control over."

"We're ready to deliver the profile," Hotch says.

We drive back to the precinct and gather everyone in the main room. Once everyone is gathered and quiet, Hotch begins.

"Unlike the real Zodiac, whose goal was mass hysteria, this copycat's message is directed at an individual woman whom he's obsessed with.."

"The women that he's killed so far have been surrogates for her. He was either rejected or believes that he can't have her, so he feels a rage towards this woman and any man that she's with."

"His actions may be an attempt to impress the object of his obsession or prove his love," Emily says.

"The unsub chose to copy the Zodiac because he wants to feel as brilliant, famous and powerful as his predecessor," Rossi continues.

"You should be looking for a physically fit male in his twenties to thirties. He's highly intelligent, but he holds a menial or low-level job. He has few friends and fantasizes of a world in which he feels special."

"And the frequency of the kills suggests that he may be on the verge of losing the object of his obsession."

After the profile, Spencer goes to the local coffee shop to work. I go with him for moral support and for someone he can bounce ideas off of. But mostly I just sit quietly and read my book, until Emily comes into the coffee shop and pulls a chair over so she can sit down.

"Hey, are you gonna tell me what's up? Reid, it's me."

"Do you ever wonder if you lived up to expectations?"

"Mm... I beat them. I figured I'd be a bored socialite by twenty-five."

"I thought I'd cure schizophrenia by the time I was twenty-five. You know, when I was a kid, people told me that I could do anything."

"You're afraid you've let people down?"

"No, I'm afraid I've let myself down."

"By not curing schizophrenia?"

"No. Just because... I don't know why I'm in the FBI."

"I see. You're a genius, but you have the same job as me and Nyssa. Morgan, JJ."

"Yeah, exactly. No, that's not what I'm saying. It's just sometimes- sometimes I kind of get this feeling like- like maybe I should have done something more with my life."

"How old are you? Twenty-nine."

"He's thirty, actually," I say.

"I'm thirty."

"No way. We missed your birthday? Well- why didn't you tell us? The fact of the matter is you're young. There's still time."

"By the time Nicola Tesla was thirty, he'd already invented the induction motor."

"You know what? You might be right. You don't hear that much about child prodigies once they grow up. In fact, most of them turn out average."

"That's not true. Are you trying reverse psychology with me?"

"I'm just telling it like it is. What are you doing?" Emily takes his paper from him and marks it up. "Well, you just told me yourself you're washed up. I should take a look at this."

"That's not what I'm saying. It's- seriously, what are you doing?"

"I'm just looking to see what you missed."

"Don't do- you're gonna actually mess it up. Emily- give it back," he snatches the paper. "Wait a minute, that's it. The real code is in the words. 'China Weekly Post,' page F-4."

We meet up with Hotch to go to the newspaper office to see if they have an English copy of the CWP. As we walk, Spencer explains to Hotch how Emily helped him crack the code. I almost have to trot to keep up with them until Spencer notices and slows down some.

"The spam had to be converted from Matrix Code to Binary Code, then switched to Base 8 before being translated back into letters. I can go into more detail if you want."

"Uh, no. How smart would a person have to be to write code like that."

"Beyond smart. Profoundly gifted. An I.Q. of at least 160."

"That changes the profile then," I say.

"The unsub could still hold a menial or low-level job. Many believe that beyond an I.Q. of 120, success is determined by other factors. This is a bilingual paper. The English version should be here somewhere."

"Penny, I need you to compile a list of people with I.Q.s of 160 or above in the region," I call my best friend.

"Checking with the Bay Area MENSA Society. Which is kind of slumming it, 'cause folks can get in with a measley I.Q. of 130."

"Also, check old school records. We're looking for someone who's in his twenties to thirties."

"Yeah. Hit you back when I got something."

As I hang up with Penelope, Spencer comes back out with an English version of the 'China Weekly Post'. He flips to the right page and looks under the fold to find what he's looking for. Then he reads it out loud for the three of us to hear.

"All right, this is it."

"You could do so much better," Hotch reads.

"I'll talk to the manager, see if they know who placed the ad," Emily says.

"Who's this message for? The writers a genius," Spencer says. "But the recipient would have to be, too, in order to decode it."

"Yeah, Dave. All right," Hotch answers his phone. "A cab driver's just been murdered."

When we get back to the precinct, Spencer asks me for help taking things off the case board. The rest of the team come over to see what we're doing. I keep quiet 'cause I really have no idea, I'm just here to help clear the board and hand Spencer the pictures he asks for.

"We've been thinking about this case too linearly. From the complexity of the code, its obvious this unsub is operating on several different levels, so we need to start thinking in multiple dimensions."

After we finish clearing the board, Spencer sits cross-legged in a chair. He just stares at the blank board for a while before he starts digging through the pile of photos and mumbling to himself. After a while Derek, Emily and JJ come over to talk to him for a minute.

"Hey, we went through all the surveillance footage near the newspaper office, there was nothing," Emily says.

"Spence, you okay?" JJ asks.

"Nothing is accidental. Nothing this unsub does is accidental. The message in the 'China Weekly Post' was on page F-4. Why F-4?"

"That's where the classifieds were," Derek says.

"It's more than that."

After a while, Spencer walks off somewhere. We follow him to the tech office where he's talking to the analyst where he's sitting on the desk cross-legged. I have to smile because he's really adorable when he's in his zone. He's got a photo of the Bay Area up on the screen, and a chess board diagram overlaying that. I frown at them for a minute before I realize what he's doing. Once I do it becomes really obvious and I'm surprised I didn't see it before. Spencer taught me to play a few weeks after we met, even though I'm not very good.

"Can you rotate that? See, F-4 is a chess square."

"He murdered people according to a chess game?" JJ asks.

"Specifically game six of Fischer versus Spassky in 1972, one of the greatest chess matches ever played. The murder locations correspond to the last three moves of the game."

"Garcia's lair of knowledge and wisdom," Hotch had called Penelope.

"Garcia, you have the list of Zodiac case experts?"

"Yes. Standing by for you. I have everyone who's ever written or blogged about it," Penelope answers his question. "FYI, there are way too many people obsessed with this sicko."

"All right, cross-reference that with professional chess players."

"Oh, that totally helps. Yeah. Okay. List is getting smaller and smaller... down to nothing."

"All right, open it up to high-level amateurs as well."

"Okay."

We walk out to the main room of the precinct and Spencer studies the pictures some more. Then he yawns and I make him take a fifteen minute nap while we wait for Penelope to call back. He wakes up just as Hotch's phone rings and he can listen to what she found.

"Go ahead Garcia," Hotch says.

"Get ready to love me more. I did a search of chess players rated 2,200 or higher, which would make them masters, but not necessarily professionals. I cross-referenced that search with Zodiac experts and came up with two former chess prodigies and best friends who used to write about the Zodiac in their junior high school newspaper. And I get bonus points because they both have I.Q.s over 160."

"Where are they?"

"In San Francisco. Caleb Rossmore is a city parks employee. Harvey Morell is an engineer at a Chinese computer firm. He's about to get married, and, yes, I just emailed you all this information right now."

"The fiancee Marisa Devon looks like the two female victims," JJ says as she picks up her tablet. "They were surrogates for her."

"Caleb could be jealous of his friend," Derek says.

"Or what if he's afraid of losing Harvey?" I counter.

"If he was a child prodigy, he may no longer feel special as an adult," Spencer says. "He could be trying to hold on to him."

"Harvey's engagement could have been a trigger," Rossi says.

"Reid, I know Spassky conceded the match, but what would the next move have been?" Hotch asks.

"Spassky would have been checkmated or he would have lost his queen," Spencer points to a square on the map.

After we get our bulletproof vests on, we head out to the coordinates of the final move. Before Spencer walks away from me, though, I take his hand to pause him in his tracks for a moment. He turns back to me and raises an eyebrow at me.

"You're still special, you know. You're the smartest man I've ever met. We wouldn't solve our cases nearly as fast without you. Besides that, you're also the sweetest, kindest, and bravest man I've ever met. You're so good with kids, and this baby is going to be so lucky."

"Thank you, little girl, I needed that. I love you so much, you know that? Now let's go catch the unsub before Marisa or Harvey get hurt."

"I know, I love you too. Let's finish this so we can go home."

We ride with Hotch to arrest Caleb, my head on Spencer's shoulder and hand in his. Hotch agreed to let me come with as long as I stayed in the SUV, and Spencer made me promise I wouldn't put myself in danger. Even though it killed me I agreed to stay back and watch.

"Spassky's queen was in square E-8, so that would land us in Richmond. Garcia, is there a connection and the two men?"

"Checking now. Uh... bingo. Harvey's dad worked there as a chemistry teacher in the sixties. And... oh, uh, Caleb lived there in 2008. He worked at the Powerlinks gym on Second and Hill and the Dragon Temple restaurant at 636 Mason."

"All right. JJ, you go to the gym We'll check out the restaurant."

"Copy that."

"Zablonsky's wife recognized the photo of Caleb and Harvey. They interviewed the detective for an article they were writing about the Zodiac when they were kids," Rossi says.

"They wrote a crime beat column in the newspaper," Garcia says.

"One of them stole the photo left at the first crime scene," JJ comments.

"It had to be Caleb. The message, 'you could do so much better' in the Chinese paper was meant for Harvey," Spencer says.

"That means the original spam message was for him, too," Emily says.

"But how did he know Caleb wouldn't turn him in?" Derek asks.

"Caleb has something on him or he's holding the fiancee hostage," Spencer answers him.

"Shut the front door," Garcia says. "They were interviewed by police in 2000 for a crime in their hometown."

"That's Caleb's car," Derek says when we pull up.

Spencer helps me down from the SUV and raises an eyebrow until I promise again I'll stay back. Then we walk inside the old building to look for Caleb, Harvey and Marisa. We hear the men's voices and walk slowly in that direction. Even though everything in me is screaming at me to protect Spencer, Derek and Hotch, I remember my promise. So I stay behind them, so that they would be between me and a gun. As we get closer, the voices get louder. Hotch holds up a hand so we stop walking after a few minutes.

"They're in the back," I say.

"If it's a hostage situation, Caleb's not gonna be easily talked down," Hotch says.

"Shut up, Caleb."

"We murdered little Robbie Shaw. How old was he, Harvey, seven?"

"He's lying."

"It was such a thrill. Remember?"

"Harv?" Marisa asks.

"Don't listen to him."

"Forget about her. I did all this to save you, from a life of misery, of pretending to be someone you're not.

"You murdered all those people to save me?!"

"Stop being so sanctimonious! It doesn't suit you. Now... do you want to kill her or should I? You know that's how the game has to end."

"This isn't a game."

"If we get rid of her now, we'll be long gone before she's found. And the police won't catch us because the murders were perfect. Just like Robbie Shaw's."

"Not really," Spencer says as he steps around the corner. "If they were perfect, I probably wouldn't be here right now."

"I had nothing to do with this," Harvey says.

"You really went out of your way to impress Harvey, Caleb. The murders, the chess game, all designed to entice him."

"Yes. He is pathological."

"I don't know if Harvey's the best friend in the world to be selling you out like that. I mean, after you killed Robbie Shaw together, you probably thought you guys had an unbreakable bond."

"He murdered Robbie by himself."

"When we took him into the woods and strangled him... I've never seen you so exhilarated. The look on your face, you can't deny that, Harvey."

"But afterwards, something changed," Spencer says. "You two grew apart."

"I wasn't there."

"You pulled away from me. Do you know how much that hurt? I would have done anything for you, Harvey. I looked up to you."

"You know what I think, Harvey? I think killing Robbie Shaw was your idea."

"No."

"You chose him because his brother used to pick on you in school," Caleb says.

"You're successful, you're charismatic, you're dominant, which means that you most likely made the plans and Caleb followed them. Let me ask you this- where did you hide the body?"

"Listen to me-"

"If I was gonna kill somebody and hide a body, I think I would probably use sulfuric acid. Especially if my father was a chemistry teacher, right Caleb?"

"Caleb... don't listen to him. He's trying to trick us."

"Do you trust him, Caleb?"

"Caleb! Hey, Caleb! Whatever happens, we'll protect each other."

"Oh, I'm sure that he'll protect you if he's around. I mean, he is moving to Shanghai in a couple of months. He put the transfer in about a year ago. Did you- did your good friend Harvey not tell you about that? Well, I'm sure that he'll send you a postcard."

"I was going to tell you."

"Robbies bones are buried in his backyard," Caleb says as he drops his gun. 

Spencer takes Marisa out to the ambulance to get checked out. I follow them and wrap him in a hug, smiling when his arms come around me and hold me tight. The thing that surprises a lot of people who don't know Spencer is that he's stronger than he looks. Even though I'm about four months pregnant, he can still lift me a few inches off the ground. As he kisses me I hear Derek clear his throat behind us.

"All right, lovebirds. Let's go home."

On the plane ride back to Quantico, I text Penelope to make sure our plan will work. In the morning I stall Spencer so our friends had a chance to set up a surprise party since we missed his birthday. I had a few pairs of socks in my bag that I found online. One of them had Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' on them, and the other had little Scorpio signs. When we finally walked into Quantico we run into Emily. I shoot her a half smile as she catches my eye behind his back as they talk. Spencer doesn't suspect anything is up, which is perfect.

"Hey, Reid. Um, Hotch wants to talk to you," Spencer groans softly. "What's wrong?"

"He probably wants to talk to me about why I've been kind of weird lately."

"You are making a difference, you know. One person at a time."

"You save lives every day, Spence. That makes all the difference in the world."

"Thank you guys. You know, I've been thinking a lot lately about why I stayed after Gideon left. Why I didn't take any of those other offers," Spencer takes my hand. "And I realized, I don't know, there's just something incredibly right about being here, with you guys."

"Well I'm glad to hear that. Otherwise this would have been really awkward."

"What would have been really awkward?"

We walk into the bullpen and then through to the round table room. All of our BAU family is there, and there's a chorus of 'surprise' and 'happy birthday'. Emily, JJ, Penelope and I all planned this as soon as Emily realized they had missed his birthday. I had already given him a bigger present on the day of, hence the socks in my bag. Spencer turns to look at me, and I shrug softly. He hugs all of the team, and then pulls me into a kiss, large hands cupping my face. As he pulls away he kisses my forehead and whispers a thank you.

"Happy birthday, baby," I hand him the socks.

"Happy birthday, old man," Derek teases as he hugs him.

After Spencer blows out the candles on his cake, Penelope cuts everyone a piece. Then he opens his presents as we eat, and we talk for a while until Hotch sends us off to do paperwork. Then we head home and work on our presentation a while before we sleep. Rossi had promised an old friend he would talk to her undergraduate criminology class, and when he told us about it we insisted we go along too. The presentation was in a few weeks, and luckily things were pretty routine in the days leading up to it. The cases we worked were wrapped up cleanly without problem. There was minimal loss of life, and none of the team got hurt. Finally there were just a few days left.


End file.
